Molded fiber container for eggs



May 4, 1931 G. P. DORR 2,078,927

MOLDED FIBER CONTAINER FOR EGGS Filed May 19, 1933 Sheets-Sheet l Few Hih w May 4, 1937. P, DORR MOLDED FIBER CONTAINER FOR mas 2 Sheets-Shea! 2Filed May 19, 1933 Inventor- Patented May 4, 1937 PATENT OFFICE MOLDEDFIBER CONTAINER FOR EGGS George Phinney Dorr, Littlettm, N. 11.,assignor, by memo assignments, to The Canal National Bank of Portland,as trustee, Portland, Maine, at national banking association ApplicationMay 19, 1933, Serial No. 671,845

1 Claim.

This invention relates to packages for use in storing, handling, andshipping eggs.

It has been heretofore, and still is, the common custom to pack eggs forshipment in crates in which cardboard flats are used, each flat 'havingsquare cells toreceive the individual eggs and adjacent flats beingseparated by sheets of cardboard which form the tops of the cells in oneflat and the bottoms of the cells in the next flat above it. The sameconstruction is also used in smaller packages. While such packages havebeen in common use for many years, they have not afforded satisfactoryprotection for the eggs, a very considerable breakage being accepted asa matter of course.

The present invention aims to improve the construction of egg packagesand the flats used in them with a view to protecting the eggs far moreeffectually while still maintaining the expense for the shippingcontainers within entirely reasonable limits.

The nature of the invention will be readily understood from thefollowing description when read in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, and the novel features will be particularly pointed out in theappended claim.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a plan view of a portion of an egg flat embodying featuresof this invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation showing portions of two superposed flats witheggs supported in them;

Fig. 3 is a vertical, sectional view through a series of superposedflats, the section being taken substantially on the line 3-3, Fig. 1;and

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 but taken substantially on the line4-4, Fig. 1.

Each of the flats illustrated in the drawings is substantially aduplicate of the others. They are made most conveniently by moldingsuitable 40 sheet material, such as paper pulp, to the desired form, thepulp having sumcient inherent strength, when dry, so that when molded toa shape such as that shown, each flat will be a relatively rigid body.The molding operation may be performed by the methods heretoforepracticed in molding articles of pulp.

Each flat has a series of cup-shaped cells 2 molded in it, each cellbeing adapted to receive and support an egg 3. As illustrated in Fig. 1,these cups or cells are arranged in rows extending at right angles toeach other, and they are spaced apart by substantially uniformdistances. The term cup or cell" is herein used to designate the spaceprovided for the support of an 55 individual egg. These rows of cups arepartly separated from each other by intervening rows of upwardlyprojecting hollow bodies 4, which may aptly be termed "domes, the domesbeing staggered with reference to the cups. It will be evidomespreferably being curved transversely so that their outer surfaces formportions of the walls of the cups 2. The cups are so tapered that whenan egg is inserted in an upright positlon in any one of them it will notrest on its extreme lower end, but it will be engaged by the walls ofthe cup at points above its end and its weight will be supported by suchengagement. The extreme lower end of each egg, however, is left free andit projects more or less into a pocket 5 which. extends downwardly belowthe egg receiving space in the cup and provides a space between thelower end of the egg and the extreme bottom of the cup, if the pocket beconsidered as an extension of the cup. This support for the egg enablesit to withstand jolts and jars during shipment which would be verylikely to break it if it rested directly on the bottom of the cup. Asbest shown in Fig. 4, the outer inclined walls of the domes affordlateral support for the eggs in the respective cells or cups, and, infact, form portions of the walls of the cups.

The lower portions of adjacent domes are connected by short ribs 6, thetop of each rib being joined to the two domes at opposite sides of it byinclined portions l-l. Or, stating the matter somewhat differently, theinclined surfaces l-l form portions of the sides of the domes and thesesurfaces between adjacent domes extend downwardly until they meet theupper surface of the intervening rib 6', said upper surface forming thebottom of a valley between adjacent domes and the surfaces ll formingthe sides of said valley. Throughout most of the flat each cup 2 hasfour of these ribs or flat surfaces 6 radiating from it. They connectand form parts of the walls of adjacent cups, and they cooperate withthe cups and the domes to provide a shape which tends to stiflen theentire flat. Such stiffening action is augmented by the arrangement ofthe ribs in lines extending transversely to each other, as shown in Fig.1.

The domes and cups are so spaced that any empty flat will nest withinanother for shipping purposes. In using them a fiat is filled with eggs,is placed in a crate, carton, or other receptacle in which the flats areto be used, and another fiat is then placed on top of the filled flat,and the same side up as the first flat, but is turned at 180 from thefirst one. This brings the domes of the upper flat into register withthe cups of the lower flat, and since these domes are hollow, they formcaps for the eggs in-the cups of the lower fiat.

In other words, the hollow space in each dome cooperates with itsrespective cup in the fiat immediately under it to form a cell in whichan individual egg is housed and which protects the upper as well as thelower end of the egg, as shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4. In addition, thisarrangement also results in positioning the bottom of each cup 2 in anyupper flat directly on a dome 4 of the next lower flat, as illustratedin Figs. 2. 3 and 4 Each upper flat may be filled with eggs eitherbefore or after placing it on a lower one, and

successive fiats are positioned, one on top of the other, in the samemanner until the entire box, crate, or other container is filled, anempty flat being placed on top of the uppermost filled fiat, after whichthe box or crate may be closed and 2 the cover nailed, or otherwisefastened, in position.

It should be observed that each flat, except that at the extreme top,contains a complete layer of eggs, but that the eggs in any upper layerare staggered with reference to those in the next layer below it. Thisis due to the fact that the egg receiving cups of any upper flatregister vertically with the domes of the next lower flat. It will alsobe seen that the eggs of any lower layer project partly into the planeof those in the next layer above it, so that the eggs in adjacent flatsoverlap each other vertically, this arrangement providing a veryeconomical use of the space in a crate or other shipping container.

9 The invention thus provides a package in which the eggs areeffectually protected against breakage. At the same time the flats canbe nested for shipment when empty, they are convenient to use, and theycan be manufactured economically. While the flats may be made of avariety of materials, the expense of manufacture from paper pulp is soreasonable, and this material answers the requirements for a structureof this 50 kind so well, that I prefer to use this substance. Because,as above pointed out, the bottoms of the pockets of one flat rest on thedomes of the next flat below it, and these domes are interspersedthickly throughout the entire surface of 5 each fiat, a package of thiskind will withstand a very considerable pressure vertically before thepockets or domes willbe crushed sufliciently to injure the eggs.Preferably the extreme bottoms of the pockets 5 and the tops of thedomes l are made relatively broad and flat so that a firm and stablecontact between these parts is provided. Each egg rests loosely in anindividual cell and is not subjected to the pressureof other eggs aboveit, all of this pressure being borne by the bottoms of the cups and thetops of the domes on which they rest.

Important advantages produced by this invention are that the flats areall of one construction. Each flat supports a full layer of eggs withthe exception of the flat used to cover the top layer. They support theeggs in adjacent layers in a staggered relationship, and when the flatsare placed one on top of another, as described, they provide cells forthe individual eggs in which each egg is protected from externalpressure.

While I have herein shown and described a preferred embodiment of myinvention, it will be evident that the invention may be embodied inother forms without departing from the spirit or scope thereof.

Having thus described my invention, what I desire to claim as new is:

A packing for eggs and. like ovate objects 7 comprising a fibrous sheetprovided with a plurality of spaced, upwardly-projecting, hollow postsadapted to receive the upper ends of a layer of eggs, said posts beingarranged in groups of four and each group enclosing a substantiallycircular cell space which tapers upwardly and outwardly from the basesof said posts toward the tops thereof, said cell spaces adaptedto'receive and loosely support the lower ends of a second layer of eggsin staggered relation to the first egg layer, the walls of each cellspace being constituted in part by the upwardly and outwardly taperingside portions of the four posts surrounding said cell space, said wallsbeing concave and the material of the sheet included by each group offour posts being extended downwardly a substantial distance below thebases of said posts to form a. hollow bottom closure disposed in theperpendicular axis of the included cell space, said bottom closurecomprising a straight uniformly downwardly tapered side wall of lessradius than any radius of the included cell space so as to prevent thelower end of the egg supported in said cell space from entering saidbottom closure, and terminating in a substantially horizontal bottomwall which is spaced from the bottom of the included cell space adistance sufficient to cushion the bottom of the egg supported in saidcell space against endwise shock.

GEORGE PHINNEY DORR.

